ver the time
that I have been reading and contributing to talk.origins, I have seen
references to a fossil whale found in California that was alleged to
have been buried and fossilized in a vertical position. The first
reference was by Ted Holden (medved@access3.digex.net) in article
<3en2bc$q5j@access3.digex.net> that was posted in January of 1995.
This post consisted of material from The Velikovskian that was
posted by Mr. Holden at the request of Mr. Charles Ginenthal. In the
material from the The Velikovskian, Mr. Ginenthal wrote:

Twenty-two years later, in 1976, the complete fossil skeleton
of a baleen whale was uncovered in Lompoc, California, in a bed
of diatomaceous earth along with a small seal, other small
whales, fish and birds.

From this fossil whale and other fossils, Mr. Ginenthal concluded:

The evidence of marine animals that has been found could only
be created by immense, recent, oceanic tidal waves. If the
floods across North America were caused by ice-domed lakes,
they would have washed away all evidence of these whale bones
and other marine materials; none of the floods would reach Mexico
or the Bahamas.

Lets see, a world wide flood. Would a layer of silt which
surround the earth constitute proof by any chance, or how
about whales which have been discovered running perpendicular
to the geological layers. Running through say 50 million years of
strata! This suggest that the layers of geological time where layed
down fairly quick.

And in May of 1995 Mr. D. W. Leon (dwleon@aol.com) wrote:

How do you explain whale skeletons found in a vertical position
in diatomaceous earth (evolution cannot explain it, because for the
diatoms to drop out of the water and engulf a whale would be a
singular, rapid event of cataclysmic proportions).

Besides appearing on talk.origins, the claim that a 80 ft-long whale
was buried standing on tail has appeared within the creationist
literature. Videos and pamphlets of the Creation Science
Evangelism out of Pensacola, Florida frequently claim that the
existence of this same fossil whale from a diatomaceous earth quarry
near Lompoc, California is clear proof of the Noachian Flood. This
same story has also appeared in creationist journals, e.g.
Creation Ex Nihilo (Anonymous 1988). The most detailed
account about this vertically buried 80-ft long whale is published in
a secular collection of geological mysteries collected in Corliss
(1980). Because of the continuing reappearance of this story, however
infrequent, a FAQ was prepared on the strange case of the whale that
was alleged to have been buried standing on its tail.

It is in only Corliss (1980) and Mr. Ginenthal's article that
the source of this story is cited. The article that they both cite
is Russel (1976). It stated that a fossil baleen whale was found
in a vertical position, "standing on end in the quarry...the fossil
may be close to 80 ft long...." in the GREFCO diatomite quarries
near Lompoc, California. Almost immediately, creationists, e.g.
Heimick (1977) and Olney (1977), jumped at this news brief
and wrote letters-to-the-editor in claiming that only a Biblical
Flood could explain this fossil. From similarities in later
accounts published by Creation Ex Nihilo, Creation
Science Evangelism, and as talk.origins posts, it is quite
apparent they all are talking about this same whale
described by Russel (1976) and commented on by
Heimick (1977) and Olney (1977).

The Real Story: Just the Facts

Had anybody taken the time and trouble to check the facts, they would
have found that the story by Russel (1976) took some liberty with the
facts and lacked very important information. First, the skeleton was
not found in a vertical position, but was lying at an angle 50 to 40
degrees from horizontal. Finally, although at this angle, the whale
skeleton lay parallel to the bedding of strata which at one time was
the sea floor on which the dead whale fell after its death. These
facts were confirmed by inquiring with the people at the Los Angeles
Museum of Natural History who excavated the whale. Although nothing
had been published on the whale, Russel (1976) clearly identified the
staff who excavated the skeleton and they could have been easily
called at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles,
California.

The strata containing the whale consists of diatomites that
accumulated within deep bays and basins that lay along the Pacific
coastline during Miocene times. As a result of folding and tectonics
associated with the formation of the Transverse Ranges, the strata
containing the enclosed skeleton has been tilted into a less-than
vertical position. These sediments lack any sedimentary structures
that would indicate catastrophic deposition. Rather, the strata
exhibit laminations indicative of slow accumulation on an anoxic bay
bottom. Within the adjacent strata, several hardgrounds occurs. A
hardground is a distinctive cemented layer of sedimentary rock that
forms when the lack of sediments being deposited over a very long
period of time on the sea bottom allows the surface sediments to
become cemented (Isaac 1981, Garrison and Foellmi 1988). In fact,
identical sediments are currently accumulating without the involvement
of a Noachian-like flood within parts of the Gulf of California
(Curray et al. 1992; Schrader et al. 1982).

Furthermore, a partially buried, articulated whale skeleton slowly
being covered by sedimentation in the deep ocean off the coast of
California was observed by oceanographers diving in submersibles. It
is an excellent modern analogue of how this particular whale fossil
was created without the need of a Noachian Flood (Allison et al. 1990;
Smith et al. 1989).

The geology of these quarries is documented by publications of the
California Division of Mines and Geology (Dibblee 1950, 1982) United
States Geological Survey geological maps (Dibblee, 1988a, 1988b),
graduate students at University of California, Los Angeles (Grivetti
1982), and field trip guidebooks (Isaacs 1981). The other whale
skeletons which have been found in these quarries lie parallel to the
bedding and owe their modern attitude to tectonics rather then some
mythical catastrophe. The written documentation for the attitude of
the whale skeletons is contained within field notes and locality
records of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles,
California.

Some Commentary

It appears the creationists repeating this whale-of-a-tale,
(including the editors of Creation Ex Nihilo) either
failed to check their facts or didn't want a good story
to be ruined by the facts. In either case, none of these
people apparently took the time and trouble to find out
what the facts were before putting pen to paper. What
they claim to be God's truth is nothing more than an
urban folktale used to validate personal religious beliefs.

What was found to be most disturbing was the tendency
for creationists to deliberately omit specific locational data
and references. Thus, they made it as difficult as possible
for a person to independently confirm the data on which
they offered as proof of a Biblical world-wide flood.
As a result, only someone who had come across Corliss
(1980) and Mr. Ginenthal's article could track down Russel
(1976) and by comparing descriptions of this fossil whale
to Anonymous (1988) and other places where it was
used evidence by creationists determine the source of
the claims about a 80-ft fossil whale having been found
in California buried in a vertical position. It almost
seems that the people making the claims about this whale
being evidence for a catastrophic or Noachian Flood
wanted the reader take their claims taken as a matter of
faith as being true and make it impossible for anybody
to check the veracity of the story. This is propaganda,
not science in the form of paragraph- to page-size
versions of media sound-bites.

In addition, Mr. Charles Ginenthal in The Velikovskian
(as posted by Ted Holden) appears to have quoted from a
secondary source, without apparently looking up the
original article, because the reference that he gives for the
whale article is badly garbled. Compare his reference
given below to Russel (1976):

According to museum staff at the Los Angeles Museum
of Natural History in Los Angeles the whale that started
this particular piece of folklore in 1976 still remains in its
cast on a flatcar in one of the GREFCO diatomaceous
earth quarries as a result of lack of the money and space
needed to curate it. Currently, it is rumored to have a
small tree growing in it. If this story is true, the story of
the "whale found on its tail", in addition to being
completely false, has a sad ending.